George Lucas famously drew on classic movies such as The Seven Samurai, The Dam Busters and even Casablanca for his original Star Wars trilogy. Now JJ Abrams has revealed he had the work of enigmatic cult director Terrence Malick in mind, when shooting new episode The Force Awakens.

Discussing the films that influenced the new instalment of the long-running space-opera saga, Abrams said he was keen to move beyond mining previous episodes for inspiration.

“Instead of just having Star Wars movies as a reference for this, I also went back and watched some of my favourite films,” Abrams told Reuters. “Obviously Seven Samurai … some of the John Ford films, because I knew those were also influences that George had.”

Added Abrams: “Malick [is] not a director you would normally think you’d … go to for a Star Wars movie and yet … I don’t know of a more profound and emotional film-maker. It sounds very pretentious to say ‘oh I’m inspired by this person, that person’, it’s more about … seeing things that you can aspire to … and where appropriate [to] apply lessons that you’re learning from them.”

Terrence Malick is best known for films such as Badlands (1973), the Cannes prize-winner Days of Heaven (1978), Berlin film festival victor The Thin Red Line (1998) and the fragmented, phantasmagorical Palme D’Or winner The Tree of Life (2011). He made just two films between Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life, and is famous for having rarely been photographed. Since 2011, Malick has been far more prolific, producing three films in four years, including the forthcoming Knight of Cups.

Abrams said he had learned to create a sense of stillness and patience from the impressionistic Malick. “There were many scenes where I might have typically wanted to rush the camera around or cut more frequently. But in trying to grow a little bit, and in trying to tell the most powerful story possible, you learn lessons in restraint, you learn lessons in stillness, you learn lessons in confidence and trust in your characters and the audience. And so I found myself working to not just keep things moving as fast as I could, which sometimes has been my default. But rather sometimes to keep things as still as I could, or let things breathe, as a balance to the action, of which there is much in the movie.”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in UK cinemas on 17 December and in US cinemas on 18 December.